Member Avatar for Sariscos

Market Segmentation strategy is a lot easier on the web than most would consider. In the past, advertisers would have to bid on traditional media space in order to market to specific markets. If you were selling Count Chocula, you would have to be in children's magazines or advertise during children's programming time slots. If you're selling pharmaceutical drugs, you'll have to wait for adult programming. It's not as effective in the traditional market space because you might be trying to sell a toy geared more towards a boy and maybe half the viewers are automatically disqualified because they're girls. Even though you're paying for 1 million views, only 500K are qualified for your product. That's a tremendous reduction for what you were looking to do.

On the web, it's much easier to segment, especially if you're a webmaster. If you have a website that you're required to sign in with an account, you can gather details about your users and segment based on age, gender, location, interests, etc... It's very valuable to segment out your viewership because you can charge higher rates to advertise. Essentially the more you can segment, the higher you can charge. In theory, if you really wanted to reach one person to advertise to you, you can charge them a fortune because that's some uber-specific criteria that only you're privy to generating.

  • 12 Contributors
  • 11 Replies
  • 236 Views
  • 5 Months Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by dubailandscape

Dani AI

Generated

Good practical thread starter from and useful follow-ups from and . The discussion covers why web segmentation matters and the privacy concern raised — what follows is a compact, actionable playbook that fills gaps left by the replies: how to choose signals, how to collect them without annoying visitors, and how to validate that segments actually drive value.

  1. Start with outcomes, not fields. Define the business decision each segment must enable (e.g., higher ad CPM, personalized offer, retention campaign) and the minimum size that makes it profitable.
  2. Use a mix of explicit and implicit signals. Explicit = light profile questions and verified email; implicit = referral/UTM, recent pages viewed, product views, cart behavior, device, location, purchase recency/frequency/value. Instrument those as discrete events so they can be recombined into segments.
  3. Collect progressively. Avoid long registration forms up front—prefer progressive profiling, incentives, and social login (as @yuvalc suggested) while being explicit about what is shared. Treat sensitive fields as optional and justify them in-context.
  4. Validate and iterate. Run small A/B or lift tests for each segment, measure conversion lift and LTV, then fold winning segments into paid targeting (lookalikes, programmatic) or retention flows.

Example of a tiny progressive-profiling trigger (client-side sketch):

if (!localStorage.getItem('visits')) localStorage.setItem('visits','1');
else localStorage.setItem('visits', String(Number(localStorage.getItem('visits'))+1));

if (Number(localStorage.getItem('visits')) >= 3 && !user.profileComplete) {
  showProfilePrompt(['interestCategory','newsletterPref']);
}

Notes and cautions: keep privacy notices clear, minimize PII storage, hash identifiers before syncing with ad partners, and avoid over-segmentation that leaves segments unaddressable. The most useful segments are those that are measurable, reachable through channels, and demonstrably profitable.

Recommended Answers

All 11 Replies

Member Avatar for rocco88

Excellent article. Thanks for the knowledge.

Member Avatar for Infopreneur Bry

Great post! Segmentation data is readily available online which can be a powerful tool when planning an online strategy. It's great to know not only who your target audience is, but their buying & surfing habits, what's currently working, and what you can do to fill any gaps in a helpful manner. Segmentation usually means smaller numbers, but better qualified potential customers/clients.

Cheers,
Bryan

Member Avatar for dollyclay

Very informative post. Market Segmentation should be measurable, accessible by communication and distribution channels, defferent in its marketing mix, substantial enough to be profitable. It is one of the steps that goes into defining and targeting specific markets.

Edited by Narue because: Self-promotion link removed
Member Avatar for gemetzel

what data do you think users are willing to give away, when they register on a shopping site? I think there's a trade off between gathering more information from my perspective and growing concerns about data safety from the users perspective.
So far I gather the following information on my site:
First name,
email,
gender,
age (I have 4 "groups" to select from),

do you guys think that's too much information or I can ask for more? like legal status and such...

Member Avatar for yuvalc

Gemetzel,

You could most certainly ask for more, yet you have to be cautious and do it in a way that is not a axiom for intruding privacy. For instance, offer you visitors to connect to you via Facebook Connect, this way you'll have all the information Facebook offers it's partners, which is SO valuable. If the visitor came in from Google, analytics tools can determine which keyword was searched.

There are many neances to each site and each industry. If you give out some more information I will be able to assist further.

Yuval @ Personyze

Member Avatar for trinsleynewton

but it is more effective in organic market, because in local you only target specific customers.

Member Avatar for Rauny

This segmentation is really beneficial for beginners.

Member Avatar for RachEv

It's defiantly one of the keys to making money online. You need to know your market.

Member Avatar for vididong.com

OK this is segmentation, what about Targeting and Promoting

Member Avatar for anigma

Market Segmentation strategy is a lot easier on the web than most would consider. In the past, advertisers would have to bid on traditional media space in order to market to specific markets. If you were selling Count Chocula, you would have to be in children's magazines or advertise during children's programming time slots. If you're selling pharmaceutical drugs, you'll have to wait for adult programming. It's not as effective in the traditional market space because you might be trying to sell a toy geared more towards a boy and maybe half the viewers are automatically disqualified because they're girls. Even though you're paying for 1 million views, only 500K are qualified for your product. That's a tremendous reduction for what you were looking to do.

On the web, it's much easier to segment, especially if you're a webmaster. If you have a website that you're required to sign in with an account, you can gather details about your users and segment based on age, gender, location, interests, etc... It's very valuable to segment out your viewership because you can charge higher rates to advertise. Essentially the more you can segment, the higher you can charge. In theory, if you really wanted to reach one person to advertise to you, you can charge them a fortune because that's some uber-specific criteria that only you're privy to generating.

i agree on that one, it seems that traditional mktg would be extinct few more years from now. innovations have taken its lead to the conventional 4p's.

Member Avatar for dubailandscape

Wow! What a great post, I like it and really impressed from your post. Keep writing more...It is very useful.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.